Expertise
Shared space and social infrastructure strategy
Urban planning and policy
Capital project development
Design excellence
Project management
Program planning
Public-private partnerships
Public art and new patron program development
Partnerships for audience development
Alternative property models
Maintenance and operations planning
Stakeholder and leadership engagement
Strategic communications
Qualifications
University of California, Berkeley. Masters of City and Regional Planning, Transportation Planning Concentration.
Hunter College, City University of New York. BA. Dual major in Urban Studies and Honors Interdisciplinary Studies.
Coro Leadership New York (XIX) and Women in Leadership
Ellen Cavanagh
Principal and Founder
Ellen Cavanagh is the founding principal of Together Projects. She focuses on developing shared spaces and partnerships that bring people together to play, work, gather, care and move. She works closely with clients to ensure their capital and programmatic investments meet the needs of their partners, stakeholders and the wider community.
Prior to founding Together Projects, Ellen was the Vice President for Planning, Design and Construction for the Trust for Governors Island, the non-profit agency responsible for the redevelopment, governance and ongoing operations of the 172-acre island in the heart of New York Harbor. Joining the organization near its inception in 2006, she was instrumental in the Island’s dramatic transformation from a derelict military base into a lively and loved destination for all New Yorkers. During her ten years on Governors Island, Ellen had the unique privilege of shepherding the development of the Island’s new and restored public spaces from design competition through construction, bringing in the final phase, The Hills, a year ahead of schedule and on-budget.
In Act 1 of her career, Ellen led Transportation Alternatives’ advocacy campaigns for safer streets and car-free parks in communities across the city, winning numerous City and State-wide policy and legislative reforms. Though joining TA “for the bikes”, she quickly developed a passion for old-school community organizing, strategic communications and data visualization. She drew on all three skills to grow The Bronx Safe Routes to School program into a national model that is still used extensively in communities throughout the U.S.
Ellen lives and learns in Brooklyn with her two children, Ren and Fiona, and husband, Ryan.